A terrific venue and compelling cause and a wonderful place this evening. It is an honor to join these titans of diplomacy as we commemorate the fall of the berlin wall. I want to begin by thinking the Diplomacy Center foundation for the important work it is doing to honor the contribution of american diplomats and preserve the history for future generations. 9, 1989back, november was a pinnacle day in history. But it took time to understand the magnitude of that moment. It is a moment that stands as a tribute to the resilient work, to the incredible men and women d the Diplomatic Mission behind the genetic mission. They promote Economic Prosperity and Global Leadership of the United States. And onple in this room the front lines all over the world, it is a mission that never stops. Today, the United States and its allies have new complexities to navigate, different adversaries, and new global threats. The pace of the Technology Change is made the world smaller and presented new opportunities, but it has also added new complexities, new battlefields have emerged within cyberspace. While the tools have changed, the mission has not. General Information Technology ,s proud to support the mission from operating Global Supply chains, securing diplomatic facilities around the world to delivering cybersecurity innovation, we truly understand challenges. We are proud to support this work every day and all over the world. Ofight i have the privilege introducing former secretary of state jim baker and mr. David rubenstein. David rubenstein has been a cofounder executive chairman of the Carlyle Group since 1987, where the largest and most successful private investment groups. Before he founded the Carlyle Group in 1987, he served as Deputy Assistant to the president for domestic policy during the Carter Administration from 1977 to 1981. Mr. Rubenstein was also chief counsel to the u. S. Senate judiciary subcommittee on constitutional amendments. He is chairman of the board of trustees of the john f. Kennedy center for performing arts. The Smithsonian Institute and the council on foreign relations. Mr. Rubenstein is also the host of the David Rubenstein show, peertopeer conversations. Secretary bakers career in Public Service and politics stands unparallel, having served of secretary of state, secretary of treasury and twice as white house chief of staff for president Ronald Reagan and president George H W Bush. Long active in american president ial politics, secretary baker led president ial campaigns for president ford, president bush, and present reagan over five consecutive elections. Asretary baker served secretary of state from january 1989 to august 1992 under president George H W Bush. The United States post challenges and the post cord era pulsed cold war era postcold war era. The soviet union was dissolved in democracy spread across the globe. Following the fall of the berlin wall, he laid the groundwork for unification of germany. Following his tenure as secretary of state, secretary baker stayed actively engaged in u. S. Diplomacy and international affairs. In 1993, he founded the james a baker the Third Institute for Public Policy at rice university. Today, secretary baker is a Senior Parker a senior partner and serves on the medical institute very he is a major supporter of the National Museum of american diplomacy and serves as honorary cochair on the board of the Diplomacy Center foundation. On behalf of the Diplomacy Center, it is my pleasure to introduce secretary baker and David Rubenstein. [applause] david thank you very much. Secretary baker, after you left your tenure, you were affiliated in fullirm and you were and shall and went from one of the smallest private equity firms to one of the largest. Thank you for doing that. We traveled the world many times in those things we did. Normally, former government officials would show up for dinners or might make speeches, but they dont give a lot of their money to causes the way you have. Why have you become one of the largest cash donors to this museum . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker because i had the cash to give thanks to you. [applause] [laughter] david fmr. Sec. Of state baker having given you a shout out, you were one of the reasons i was able to become white house chief of staff for Ronald Reagan. He worked for jimmy carter, and i did not. David i worked for jimmy carter and you were working for gerald ford. At that time, carter one. Four years later you got to repay the favor. You did pretty well. You told me over the years that of all the jobs you ever had, the best was secretary of state. Fmr. Sec. Of state baker absolutely. I was just discussing that with the current secretary of state. The best job in government. The worst is white house chief of staff. I did that twice. David you would rather have been secretary of state than president . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker i think it is a better job. From theremove it centrifuge, not totally, but im not saying i would rather have been secretary of state. George bush said the one thing i like about jim baker is he will tell me what he thinks even though he knows i dont want to hear it. I tell people that is true. He had a very effective way of letting me know when the discussion was over, when we were arguing about a policy. He would look at me and say, if you are so smart, why are we arguing . David im one of our trips overseas, you met with crown prince abdulla who later became the king. As you obviously know, during the effort to get rid of saddam hussein, we kicked him out of kuwait and you waste a lot of money for that. How much did you actually raise for that effort . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker my record my recollection is it raised5 billion and we all that 10 billion of that. Remember, we were a Republican Administration with a completely democratic congress, house, and senate. They said how can you spend that money when we have all of this in the United States . I went to the president and said we have to figure out a way and maybe we can pass a tin cup around, and we did. It was the only war america has ever fought that we didnt pay for. Why did you call him that . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker i always called him resident when the president i always called him president when others were in the room. Office, i started calling him chief. David when we went to see then crown prince abdulla after the war, we had a meeting with him and he said, you overcharged me by 5 billion or 6 billion and i want that money back. I thought it was tongueincheek and you told me it wasnt. Fmr. Sec. Of state baker no it was not tongueincheek. David he was serious about getting the money back. Fmr. Sec. Of state baker he was letting me know. Saudis i went to the first and they said what are you getting from the kuwaitis . I said i hadnt done that and they said go back and talk to the kuwaitis and come back. I went to the kuwaiti government thein exile and we got kuwaitis to pony up 15 billion and so i went back in the saudis ponied up 15 million. He wasnt king at the time. Meet a lot ofever people who do that . [laughter] fmr. Sec. Of state baker not too many. For manyu are famous things during that time, looking for money and putting the coalition together. There was a coalition between you and the foreign minister of iraq and you gave him a letter from the president. Did you think they were ever going to back down, and why do you think they did not back down when he saw the American Military coming . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker we used to say, saddam would always take things right up to the brink and he may have thought the break was further away than we were telling him it was. We did not tell him the exact day. We said it is going to be soon. , he didnt take the troops out. David for many years when we were going around the world for business things and you are doing speeches, the most frequent question you ask was why after the kuwait war to do not going to baghdad and end saddam husseins life for what was your answer . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker we got a lot of heat for that. President bush was wise enough to know, and by the way, our military did not want any part of occupying that big arab country, but president bush was wise enough to know that if we did that, we dont and we would have to figure out how to do it. People concluded we had done the right thing after the invasion in 2003, when we did and you saw what happened, maybe that wasnt so smart. David when the berlin wall fell, many people said to you and president , white dont you take credit why dont you take credit for getting the wall to come down and take credit for ending the cold war . Washington is not lacking in people who wanted to take credit for things, why didnt you take credit . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker the president got heat about not being emotional about the collapse of the wall but the view was that we still had a lot of business to do with gorbachev. That would not have been very smart for us to stick our finger in there i because we had a lot of in their eye because we still had a lot to do. We had to unify germany and a host of other things. He took heat for it but it was the right policy approach. David being secretary of state, what would you say is the most if it cant the most withcult part of dealing all of those . Ir. Sec. Of state baker was lucky because i was secretary of state for a guy who had been my friend for 40 years. I had ran all of his political campaigns so no one would get between me and my president. I had a leg up. Be secretary of state to andessful had to stay close have a relationship with his president. I didnt have to work at that and i was fortunate. David when you became secretary of state, did you get advice from previous secretaries of state . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker what was the advice . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker stay close to your president. They are sharing the Foreign Policy responsibility. The president always outranks secretary of state, so you better find a way to do that that is compatible with the interest of the president. Or resign. David since you left secretary of state and the new one came in, do they call you for advice and what do you normally say to them . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker the same thing i said to you stay close to your president. That is what i told secretary pompeo when he called me 20 minutes after his appointment was announced and we had a very good meeting at the cia. David you met many foreign leaders in the course as your time of secretary of state and you were secretary of treasury for four years. Who was the most impressive foreign leader you ever met . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker that is a hard one because i met impressive ones. I think Mikael Gorbachev will be treated very well by history because he made the decision not to use force to keep the empire together, something that had never been done before. He had a very difficult problem. He was being attacked domestically some of the people. He was very interesting. With alassading in syria was interesting. We would have meetings in tiny closed rooms that had bulletproof rooms and all of, olive,rtains with drab curtains. He would ply you with drinks until you had to give up to go to the mens room. Ofrote memoirs about my sec. Is entitled bladder memoirs. Electionyear the on the exploits. David you also went it out that you hadto sit here and to talk and why didnt he move the chairs . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker because they were heavy armchairs and i got a quick in my neck every time a crick in my neck every time i met with him. We disagree on many policy issues because he was a hardline minister and we were as all administrations have been, republican and democratic. We both saw to it that all of the meetings were just the two of us. No note takers. He never leaked on me and i never leaked on him. His word was good. My word was good with him but we disagreed on policy. Hisyour successor successor was one of your close allies. Fmr. Sec. Of state baker and a close friend. David you also developed p withr close relationshi a leader in russia. How to do that . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker at my first meeting with him, it was when i was treasury secretary and i went to the white house for a lunch that president reagan gave. Soviet foreign mr. Was there. The soviet foreign minister was there. Were formaleetings ministerials with long tables with soviet union flags and u. S. Flags. We finally changed that format and became more personal and more animated intimate. I invited him to wyoming. They were not allowed to go 20 ores from their embassy their offices at the u. N. We took he and his delegation to the mountains of wyoming and we negotiated a chemical weapons treaty there. We are still parties to and we have not left that yet. [laughter] fmr. Sec. Of state baker still looking, right . David one of the Biggest Challenges of being secretary of state is something called jet lag. How did you deal with it . Tooksec. Of state baker i something and then the fda, and said this will kill you. I had a good response from it. I could get six hours of really good sleep. I had a comfortable bed on my plane. I would go between meetings and i would take one and tap out. David some say the secretary of state plane is 40 years old and they need a new one. Any comment . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker i think the current secretary of state is better equipped to answer that. Plane. Very interesting i had the plane Lyndon Johnson was sworn in on after jack kennedy was killed in dallas. That was the secretary of states lane states plane and that day. One wasew air force ordered, it didnt arrive until after George H W Bush was president. David you are one of the few people who work for gerald ford, Ronald Reagan, and George Herbert walker bush. How would you contrast the working style in the oval office . Who was easier . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker nice try, david. I get that question all the time and i tell people i dont compare the president s i work for because the minute you Say Something nice about one of them, it will be interpreted to be something negative about the other. David what was it like to be chief of staff or Ronald Reagan. Was it fun . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker it was tough because i was constantly under attack from the socalled true believers. I ran to campaigns against reagan and then he asked me to be his white house chief of staff. I defy you to tell me when that is going to happen again in american politics. [laughter] fmr. Sec. Of state baker i dont think that is going to happen again. He was a lovely person to work for. I was constantly being attacked by the socalled true believers. It took a lot of time for them to accept me. My loyalties had transferred. David for previous secretaries of state that served before you, was that one you admired . And you saw as role models . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker i always say that my friend George Schulz went to Princeton University and i went there. He was a marine and i was a marine. He was secretary of treasury and i was secretary of treasury. He was secretary of state and i was secretary of state and he ought to be my mentor and he was. David ok. What does the institute do . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker we try to bridge the gap in the world of action, people like you and i who served in government and done things, and the academics. Statemente mission from the Woodrow Wilson center for International Scholars here in the smithsonian. Servinge longest trustee of the Woodrow Wilson center and served in all of the various capacities. I was appointed by president ford on his way out. Bridge do is we try to the gap between the world of ideas in the world of action. We endow fellowships for people from the world and bring them in assignment ofan two or three years and interface with academics. We have a pretty good reputation. David what are you most proud of having accomplished in your public life . Is it secretary of state, treasury, chief of staff . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker i am most proud of the fact that i ram those campaigns ran those campaigns for president of the United States, served 12 years up in washington, and i left uninvited. [laughter] left, sometime after you you went back to texas and considered running for attorney general. Fmr. Sec. Of state baker i did run. David you said someone came up to you once and said you look like jim baker. I dont remember the exact story. Do you remember . Fmr. Sec. Of state baker after i had run fors campaign, i had campaign, i had a lot of Television Time and then i went to run. Some said that you would get a lot of exposure in texas. I disregarded the advice and i shouldnt have if i had wanted to win but fortunately i lost and i was able to come here. The thinking was that because i was a better lawyer than my opponent, that would make a difference. That doesnt make a difference in politics. David so many came up to you and said fmr. Sec. Of state baker i had gotten a lot of face time on television and i walk in a concourse and someone said, i know you. He recognized the facebook and come up with the name. He said, you are jim baker. I said, thats right. I was swelled up with pride. , and how isnew it tammy faye . [laughter] was the other one go ahead. Fmr. Sec. Of state baker fmr. The other one and said doesnt anyone tell you you look like jim baker . And i said yes it does. It doesnt it piss you off . David you knew gorbachev. And just to show you the quick and just to show you the quick wit, he went to harvard and was asked by students, how would history have been different if khrushchev had been killed and not john kennedy. He said, i can tell you one thing for certain, aristotle anastas would not have married misses khrushchev. [laughter] secretary, you have a career in Public Service that is unmatched by anyone over the last 50 years or so. I want to thank you for what you have done for our country and for what you have done for this museum. Fmr. Sec. Of state baker thank you, david. [laughter] [applause] thank you. Wonderful and stimulating dialogue. I would like to call the Germany Ambassador to the United States. Madam ambassador. [applause] madam ambassador secretary pompeo, secretary baker, ambassador harris, and ladies and gentlemen, it is a privilege to join you this evening on the special occasion and in honor of the man who played such a crucial role in the immense in the events we commemorate today. I would like to thank secretary pompeo to have spoken to us on this occasion and idolizing. Rlining the endearing it was in 1983 when i started working in eastern europe. I was a young Foreign Service officer. My job was to make sense of what happened on the others of the wall and beyond. Analyzed thei cracks in the veneer that were becoming apparent. On the one hand, efforts to Eastern European to gain more latitude and try to assert autonomy or two dodge the directives from moscow or even to dodge the directives from moscow, before starting to claim something different, freedom, rule of law, individual rights. They were looking west. They looked west because they saw in the United States a beacon of liberty. Americans have the freedom to say what they thought, to make the individual choices they wanted him to purchase they liked, to travel where they wished, and they wanted their allies in europe to have these choices. Europeans, eastern germans, for that manner, enjoyed none of these privileges. There leaders enforced choices for them. Very existence of the United States that inspired people in the east to stand up for their rights. Military force was used to put down democratic movements, they are still in living memory. This did not stop them. People were disillusioned and angry. They yearned for freedom, the same freedom that americans enjoyed themselves and supported in western europe. People also looked west because they knew what this unwavering american support meant. Friend and foe new that the United States stood with its allies come what may. No one thought the United States would counter a challenge to the wests alliance in its way of life and market economy. We understood this and relied on it. Even more importantly, the soviet union understood this. It defined how far it would go in challenging the western status quo. There is, i think, no country that benefited more from it than germany come west and east. After all, it was the United States that saved the people of berlin during the soviet blockade. It was the United States that supported germanys recovery through the marshall plan, laying the groundwork for the post war economic america. It was the United States that enabled the young republic to become a member of nato and the western alliance. It was president ronald ragan calling on soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down this wall. The United States not only provided a blueprint for freedom, it was also determined to defend it. When i started working on the Eastern European desk and i moved to the foreign ministry, it was still unthinkable that the warsaw pact would implode anytime soon, nor that the blank thewouldpse collapse. It said the United States stood for freedom of choice and would lead support for would lend support for allies to make this choice too. Earnevelopment of west you western europe and germany told people across the continent that they had the right to make democratic choices and that could alter the political and economic trajectory of nations. Dynamic, through eastern europe, that culminated in the fall of the wall. Eastern germans took to the streets to take back what was theirs. Violent, aes, no peaceful revolution. It was incredible. Suddenly everything seemed possible. As soon as the wall came down, everybody asked what this would mean for german unification. This was by no means a foregone conclusion. We all know there were intense discussions along among the western allies and the soviet union, as with germany. There were many critical voices. There were interests that did not want to see the two german states reunited. Without american leadership, these voices might have prevailed. It was most fortunate for german history that judge h w bush was president of the United States that George H W Bush was president of the United States and james baker as the secretary of state at this critical juncture. It was them who had the courage to seize the moment. It was them who placed their trust in the german people. They believed germany had become a reliable partner for democracy and a crucial ally in europe. Thembly, without either of , reunification might not have happened. In july of this year, the chancellor has asked me to present to the George H W Bush president ial library a large sure of the renowned german artist. It is photography of george bush, Mikael Gorbachev and five copies exist. One of them hangs in the chancellors office. It was taken on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the berlin whenlin the leaders met for one last time. They sit in front of three pieces in an undefined huge space. , president s and if you look closer, you realize it is president bush who actually is in the composition center stage. Thery of this picture story of vision and leadership and courage and trust is his, and byly his, extension, that of his civil Foreign Policy advisor at the time, secretary baker. Secretary baker, my country will always remember you as one of the fathers of german unification. Thank you. [applause] madam ambassador ladies and gentlemen, the friendship goes back a long ways. The United States freed europe and indeed germany from oppression. Iny entered integration europe and help germany reunite, once the wall had come down. Andout the United States its visionary leaders like james baker, we would not celebrate the fall of the wall today. Thank you. [applause] thank you for those heartfelt remarks. I speak for everyone assembled americans, weas sometimes forget the impact we have upon the world and it is good to hear from a close, friendly ally the impact we have had. It brings home for all americans hear the need to stay engaged, to be helpful, and to work with allies. Thank you, again. [applause] as our work is diplomacy, our game is diplomacy, we thought it might be a good idea for us to begin an award for excellence in diplomacy. We thought that perhaps at an evening when secretary james baker was here might be a good time to start an award for diplomacy. We are going to make it an annual award. The idea is in individual or possibly a group that has really done something for the nation. Something that whether it is an ambassador or secretary of state, someone who has made a difference for america in the field of public safety. We are awarding the first went this evening. Our president will make the award. Much. Nk you very i wasnt aware of that. I would be more than happy to make the award. As bill mentioned, this is an annual award and this is the first presentation. We are honored that we are able to give it to james baker. [applause] honor to pleasure and work with mr. Baker, secretary baker, in the white house during the time of George H W Bushs presidency. Was a goodyou he friend of the president , as he mentioned with his conversation with david. It was a pleasure to see his dedication to america and to the hard work he put into making sure Foreign Policy work proceeded. Thank you, jim, for that service. [applause] i know it is in your program, but the model of the award is service, leadership, service to country, leadership in advancing diplomacy, and legacy in terms of the future guidance that you give to Young Americans to get involved in policy. We are very honored to be able to give this first award to jim baker. [applause] i would also like to read part of what the award is for. As secretarynure of state from 1989 to 1992, the honorable james baker help to steer the revolutionary developments in europe. His efforts helped lead to the dissolution of the soviet union, the unification of germany, and the creation of a unified europe. His achievements in american diplomacy have created a Brighter Future for a democratic europe. That is what the certificate reads. There will be a framed certificate mailed to you but that is the just. Ist. K you g once again, thank you for your service. [applause] fmr. Sec. Of state baker thank you for this award your dime struck by the fact that it is an annual award and it has never thank you for this award. I am struck by the fact that it is an annual award and has never been given before. [laughter] fmr. Sec. Of state baker when i was secretary of state, thank you for your service and thank you for this award. [applause] ]mr. Sec. Of state baker i would like to call on the director of the Diplomacy Center foundation who has an announcement. Secretary baker, thank you so much for this evening. It has been very special. Mr. Rubenstein, thank you very much for everything that you have done for us. Is home to the signature segment of the berlin wall, we think the Atlantic Council who is constantly reminded of successful diplomatic efforts. And thank you ambassador for joining us tonight to express the sentiments from germany. Ofthe National Museum diplomacy, we highlight the diplomats who work tirelessly to protect american citizens abroad, support increased trade, workforce stability in developing nations and provoke democratic practices around the world. And now we will have a presentation by Deputy Assistant secretary for countermeasures and Diplomatic Security, john fitz williams. Very donating a interesting artifact to the to theexam diplomacy museum. John thank you very much. I can the cover Nothing Better than the slides of the first attempt to construct a new embassy in moscow. This is a column slice for ,oaxial cable embedded in it courtesy of the russians. [laughter] john i am not sure if that was a diplomacy success, that whole episode, but we started construction of that building in 1979. Most ofians constructed the Building Elements offsite. We let them do that. Cbs thatve u. S. Navy were watching them. They were the russians were never able to connect it up. When we discovered this network of listening devices in the building, we immediately stopped construction in the soviet workers were kicked offsite in 1985. We embarked on probably the longest counterintelligence investigation the u. S. Government has ever conducted. In 1991, with the fall of the soviet union, the head of the plans oflly presented the embassy bugging to the ambassador upon the ambassadors request. Curiously, the plans were not entirely complete. [laughter] john they lopped off the top stories of the building and constructed a more secure access withto the Embassy American labor this time instead of russians, which was indeed a success. It opened in 2000. Thing thato say one despite the fall of the soviet union, there was certainly at the time a school of thought that the russians are our friends. This very building, in 1999, the russians implanted a listening device. We in Diplomatic Security need to be ever vigilant. Last, i really would like to thank the partner in supply technologyformation who recognized the opportunity because they were the ones who did the slicing and the casting of this. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. [laughter] [applause] this is the first time any of these artifacts have been displayed in public. It is a testament to all the men and women who worked tirelessly throughout the years investigating this issue. Thistary baker, i suspect crossed your desk a time or two during your tenure. [laughter] john i am sorry, thank you. Thank you very much, john. A few artifacts we will be having in the National Museum of. Merican diplomacy i will never forget going to moscow at the time this was happening. We built the new embassy and we found out it was bugged every which way. The reason we built the new embassy was because our old embassy was across the street from a Russian Church that had all these antennas and listening devices and weeds to refer to that church as our lady of telemetry. Or the church of the immaculate reception. [laughter] [applause] you see why we need the National Museum of american diplomacy. We thank everyone here. John, thank you very much to add to our collection. It is the very first one we are accepting at the National Diplomacy museum. We would like you to take a look at our new exhibit. Diplomacy is our mission here we did this in the conjunction with smithsonian. Take you very much have a wonderful evening. Thank you for joining us. Please come back and visit as often as you like. [applause] [indistinct conversations] this is American History tv on cspan three, were each weekend clean feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nations past. Campaign 2020, watch live coverage of the candidates on the trail and make up your own mind. Campaign 2020, your unfiltered view of politics. Ago, the berlin fall was reduced to a symbol of the cold war when the east German Government announced it was allowing free passage between the divided city. A 1962 u. S. Ll, Information Agency short film that helps us witness the shock berliners. Ers of
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